Doctor Who: 10 Actors Who Came Very Close To Playing The Doctor

3. Rowan Atkinson

Because who wouldn't want to see Mr Bean taking on a Dalek!? Not that Rowan Atkinson would even dare to base his portrayal of the nation's beloved Time Lord on such a stupendous fool, but it's definitely something to think - and then subsequently have recurring nightmares - about. Rowan's Doctor would probably be more like Johnny English, if anything, only without the complete lack of awareness. Anyway, the actor, who was once listed as one of the funniest men in Britain, auditioned to play the Eighth Doctor back in the 90s and, while he obviously wasn't good enough to be made "canon", he was subsequently given the prestigious accolade of helming the 1999 Comic Relief sketch, The Curse of Fatal Death, in which he starred as the unofficial Ninth Doctor alongside Richard E. Grant's Tenth, Jim Broadbent's Eleventh, Hugh Grant's Twelfth and Joanna Lumley's Thirteenth. It was for charity, OK? Besides, it's better to have a played a 'sort of' Time Lord than to never have played a Time Lord at all, right? OK, so Rowan can pretend The Curse of Fatal Death actually is canon if it helps him to sleep at night, but don't come crying to us when you can't work out what incarnation the Doctor's on anymore. Trust us. It's confusing at the best of times.